Wednesday, February 18, 2009

WFMW--Taming the Paper Trail


If you have children in school, you will know what I'm talking about. The paper trail is enormous! Every week, my three bring home dozens of worksheets, announcements, notes, etc. This is the pile from one child for one week! Untamed, it can overrun the place.

Rather than just throw it all in the recycling bin, or heaven forbid, the trash, I use the following method. First, I go through it and pull out anything I need or want to save (I still need a system for coping with that stuff!). I also pull out anything that is printed on both sides and put that in recycling.

The stuff with blank, or minimally scribbled on, backs, I use for one of two things. One, I stack it up and load it blank side up into the printer to cut down on our paper use. Most of what we as a family print out does not need a fresh sheet--it's just a recipe or something like that.

Some of it I tear into quarters, using the edge of a table. This photo was a little tricky to shoot with my left hand; hopefully, you get the idea. Or scissors would work, if that's how you roll. I just find it quicker to sort and tear kind of simultaneously.

These little sheets are used for grocery lists, or any other kind of little note or reminder. No more buying notepads for that!

It's frugal, it's green, it Works for Me! More tips today at Rocks in My Dryer. Go on. Check it out.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This is a great idea! I'll have to use it when my kids bring home all their paper!

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

No paper EVER gets thrown away unless both sides have been used in my home. With my artists, we go through sheets a day. I hardly ever buy them paper - we just use the backs of everything.

Jane Anne said...

I really need to get better at this. We have such a big paper trail! It was good for me to read your post.
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